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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Pentecost! Today is considered the “Birthday of the
Church”. With this Feast, we recall that day when the Father and
the Son sent the Holy Spirit to the people who were called by Jesus
to build His Kingdom. That Holy Spirit made all the difference in
the world to that first band of Christians. The Holy Spirit
empowered them to get out in the world, to witness to Jesus, and to
do amazing things. On this Feast Day, we ask God to send that same
Holy Spirit on each and every one of us! We need the Holy Spirit
now more than ever! There is still so much work to be done in this
world. It is what we are supposed to be busy about every day.
Once again, this year, on this Feast Day, we are trying to
help you to find your place and your ministry within the Church, by
sponsoring our annual Ministry Fair. The Ministry Fair will take
place after all four of our Lord’s Day Masses this weekend, in the
Stuart-Gadus Fieldhouse. Please come over and join us. We need
YOU! We need your talents, your ideas, and your gifts to keep St.
Maria Goretti growing and strong. The level of lay involvement and
leadership in our Parish has always been one of the highest around.
From the beginning, we have realized that to be the kind of parish
that we wanted to be, that it was going to take everybody’s help and
talents. God has brought and amazing group of people together here
at St. Maria Goretti for the glorification of His Name and for the
building up of His Kingdom. God has YOU here for some reason. I
promise you that. What are you doing to share your gifts and your
talents? How are you helping our community to be better?
Hopefully, the Ministry Fair will inspire all of us to think about
what we’re doing AND what we’re not doing, and to step it up to the
next level. Come on over even if you’re already involved. Maybe
you can inspire someone else!
A big ministry that relies heavily on the Ministry Fair
every year is our Landscape Ministry. Under the awesome guidance of
George Wiegand and his army of volunteers, this committee works hard
to keep our grounds and campus nice and looking good.
Unfortunately, the Ministry Fair usually comes so late in the
spring, that many times this committee is a month or two months
behind Mother Nature in getting a handle on our landscaping. We
have a little advantage this year because Pentecost is earlier
because Easter was so early. Still, the Landscape Ministry needs
lots of helping hands, and rakes, and weed trimmers. Next Saturday,
May 17th,
the Landscape Ministry is having an all-Parish work session to get
caught up on the grounds. We are asking everyone who can lend a
hand to come out next Saturday morning, from 8:30 AM until 12:00
Noon, to help spruce up our Parish grounds for the summer. In
addition, it’s also that time of year for Parish families to “adopt”
one of the islands in the parking lot or one of the areas or plots
of landscaping around the campus. During this spring and summer,
your family would take care of that particular plot or area or
island. It’s a lot easier than “adopting” a new cat and there’s no
messy litter box to contend with either. But your family is then
responsible for that area for this year. How’s that sound for a
family project or ministry? It could bring your family together
quicker than a bucket of KFC chicken! Interested? Call George or
see him today at the Ministry Fair.
Today is also our first chance to sign up for our 2008
Italian Festival, which is going to take place on July 12th
this year. This is such a fun event every year. Each year the
Italian Festival gets a little bigger, as it becomes one of
Westfield’s premier summer events. Quite obviously, it takes
hundreds of volunteers to put on the Italian Festival. How are you
going to help this year? Ben and Kristan Russell and Kim and Greg
Stanley are co-chairing this year’s extravaganza. They will be at
the Ministry Fair looking to help you find your place to help out in
July.
Oh, and I nearly forgot, Happy Mother’s Day to all of our
moms. We pray for all of our mothers, both living and deceased,
today. The vocation of motherhood is one of the most special of
all. We thank our moms for all that they do for us all year long!
Have a great day! Get out there and enjoy this beautiful
weather.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
“Without a shepherd the sheep are not a flock” –
Russian proverb
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